Baie Nettlé, St. Martin: The Strip Between Two Waters
Hotels on a sandbar with the sea on one side and the lagoon on the other.
Why Go
Baie Nettlé is a narrow band of land west of Marigot with Simpson Bay Lagoon behind it and the open sea in front, so most of the hotels here have water on both sides. It is a modest, unshowy stretch — mid-range places, a run of small restaurants, and a beach that is calm and shallow rather than spectacular. What it buys you is position: five minutes from Marigot's market, twenty from Grand Case, and inside the French side without paying French-side beachfront prices.
The Experience
The road runs the length of the spit with hotels and apartment blocks along it, most of them low and dating from an earlier era of the island's tourism. The sea-side beach is protected and shallow, good for a swim and unremarkable to look at; the lagoon side is flat water with moorings and the occasional dinghy dock. Sunsets here are the genuine attraction, because the strip faces west across the lagoon toward the hills. There is not much to walk to beyond the restaurants on the road itself, and the area was hit hard in 2017 with some properties still not back. It is quiet in the evening, and the traffic between Marigot and the western end passes straight through. What the strip really offers is a compromise most visitors do not think to look for: French-side location and French-side food shopping without French-side beachfront rates, on a beach that is perfectly adequate for swimming even if nobody would photograph it. If your week is built around eating and the market rather than around the sand, that compromise is the right one.
What to Try
Eat along the road: Mezza Luna is the long-standing Italian, Boho Beach Bar puts you on the sand, Chay's Restaurant and the Oriental Chinese restaurant cover the range, and M&M Pizza's and Pizza Chef-Chef handle the informal evening. La Belle Créole, the ruined resort on the point, is a landmark rather than a business and worth a look from the road. Boat'On Yacht Club works the lagoon side, and the Municipal Tennis Club is behind. For the rest, Marigot is five minutes east — the market, Fort Louis and the food shopping — and Sandy Ground and the beaches of Terres Basses are a few minutes west. Art + Design SXM, Wood Design and the Wall of Art in Marigot are the local art. The most useful habit if you are staying here is to shop in Marigot in the morning — the market, a boulangerie and a supermarket in one trip — and then treat the strip's restaurants as the fallback for evenings when driving anywhere feels like too much effort, which on a hot week is most of them.
Insider Tip
Stay here for the position, not for the beach. Baie Nettlé is a five-minute drive from Marigot's market and boulangeries and about twenty from Grand Case's restaurants, which makes it a sensible base for eating your way around the French side at a lower nightly rate than either. Then walk to the lagoon side at the end of the day: the sunset across the water is better than the one from the sea-facing beach, and almost nobody bothers.
The Practical Stuff
Baie Nettlé is about twenty minutes from Princess Juliana airport across the open border and five from Marigot. You need a car; the strip is walkable within itself but nothing else is close, and the road carries all the through traffic to the western end of the island. Parking is free along the road and at the hotels. This is the French side — the euro is official with US dollars widely accepted, French is the everyday language, and shops keep French hours with a lunchtime closure. The beach is public. There is no nightlife beyond the restaurants. Hurricane season runs roughly June to November, and a low strip between a lagoon and the sea takes water from both sides, as 2017 demonstrated.
Common Questions
Where is Baie Nettlé?
On the French side, a narrow strip west of Marigot with Simpson Bay Lagoon behind it and the sea in front. It is five minutes from Marigot and about twenty from Princess Juliana airport.
Is the beach at Baie Nettlé good?
It is calm and shallow and fine for a swim, but modest compared with Orient Bay or the Terres Basses beaches. People stay here for the position and the price rather than the sand.
Is Baie Nettlé a good base?
Yes, if you want the French side at a lower rate — Marigot's market is five minutes away and Grand Case's restaurants about twenty. There is little to walk to beyond the road's own restaurants.
Do you need a car at Baie Nettlé?
Yes. The strip itself is walkable but everything else is a drive, and the road through it carries the traffic between Marigot and the west of the island.
What is La Belle Créole?
A large resort on the point that was abandoned and never reopened, now a well-known ruin. It is a landmark of the island's tourism history rather than somewhere you can visit.
Where do you watch the sunset at Baie Nettlé?
From the lagoon side rather than the sea-facing beach — the strip looks west across the water toward the hills, and very few visitors walk the few metres across to see it.
Pair It With
- Mezza Luna Guide — The reliable dinner on the strip.
- Boho Beach Bar Guide — The day on the sand before it.
- La Belle Créole Guide — The ruin on the point, and the island's history in one building.
